ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

ACOMSDave Community Journalist

Dictatorship 1, Democracy Nil – The People Loose

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Democracy

Democracy needs to be nurtured and looked after, if not then it gets strangled and we end of with a barren land. (David McFarlane)

Law, as it had been known, was no longer decisive in legal proceedings. Judges, now more than ever, were working toward the Fuehrer. Judicial independence, once the ideal of the German state, nearly vanished….Jim Snowden (https://jimsnowden.com/2013/11/06/the-nazi-judiciary/)

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”..John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902)

The problem with being an ‘outsider’ to another countries politics, is just that, you are an outsider.  I don’t profess to understand American politics, but I do reserve the right to comment on what I perceive to be a fundamental change to society and the impact that it is having on others.  When Hitler came to power, even though he had been well treated by the German Judiciary, he set out to control the courts and to remove fundamental rights.  He succeeded, and to those who suffered because of this came the ‘Holocaust’ and the ‘Death Camps’.  The United Nations states ‘The Rule of Law and Democracy Section stands as OHCHR focal point for democracy activities.’ The rule of law is the legal principle that law should govern a nation, as opposed to being governed by arbitrary decisions of individual government officials.  The decision by President Trump goes in the face of all legal precedents except when you look at dictatorships such as Nazi Germany etc.  Indeed it bares direct comparison with Hitler,

I expect the German legal profession to understand that the nation is not here for them, but that they are here for the nation*, and that from now on, I shall intervene in these cases and remove from office those judges who evidently do not understand the demand of the hour. (Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, vol III, the Justice Case,Washington, 1951 Page 51″)

President Trump - Democracy?Most of the world did not stand up to Hitler and his political aspirations, and the world ended up in a world war.  In all conscience I cannot stand by and say nothing,  President Trump is going down a very dangerous road, and the problem is that he is taking people who didn’t vote for him with him!

Donald Trump has fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she ordered Justice Department lawyers to stop defending the president’s controversial immigration orders.

Source: Donald Trump sacks US attorney general Sally Yates for defiance over immigration ban – live

Further Reading:

 

Breach – A Movie Review

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BreachName of movie: Breach

Date: 2007

Length (hrs) Approx 1 hr 45 mins

Film genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller

 

 

 

 

 

Characters:

Chris Cooper as Robert Hanssen

Ryan Phillippe as Eric O’Neill

Laura Linney as Kate burroughs

 

Breach Breach

Awards: AARP Movies for Grownups Awards 2008 – Best Actor ‘Chris Cooper’

 

Setting: FBI Headquarters, Washington DC

Plot information: Robert Hanssen was a high level FBI agent who spied for Russia for money and other reasons.

When does the movie take place? Approximately 2000-2002

What happens in the movie? The plot is quite simple in that Robert Hanssen is transferred to FBI HQ to head up a new section, but in reality his move is to sideline him and to enable the FBI to monitor more closely his behaviour. To this end O’Neill is brought in as his gopher, but in reality again he is to observe and report on Hanssen’s moves.

What makes the movie interesting? The interesting features of the movie is that there is not action sequences, it is all based around character; and to this end both Chris Cooper as Hanssen, and Ryan Phillippe as O’Neill are brilliant. It is the development of the character of both of these men, of how they are both living double lives, and how eventually both come to the end of the story having moved their personal life in a totally different direction

I was really surprised at Ryan Phllippe’s handling and development of his character of O’Neill (a young, enthusiastic agent who is looking to grow within the agency), and look forward to him doing more work which is character led rather than some of the light weight items he has previously carried out.

How do you feel when the movie ended? The movie didn’t bring up any surprises, but it did leave some unanswered ones, especially since watching the movie I have read up on Hanssen.

I would recommend this movie to those who are will to watch and listen, and enjoy character led stories.

On a scale of 1 (don’t like) – 5 (like), for me I would give this movie a 4 out of 5

 

Further reading:

Into The Wild – A Movie Review

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Into The WildName of movie: Into The wild

Date: 2007

Length (hrs): 2h 28mins

Film genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama

Characters: Christopher McCandless

Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars; Won Golden Glove ‘Best Original Song’, Nominated Golden Glove Best Original Score, Screen Actors Guild Awars Nominated Actor in 4 areas, AFI Awards Won Movie of the Year

Setting: Mostly Alaska

Plot information: Christopher McCandless has just graduated from Emory University as a top student and athlete. However, he is disillusioned with the ‘rat race’ and gives his $24,000 university savings account to charity and then through a series of adventures and encounters with wonderful characters, who are like pen drawings in their details and shortness on the screen, he makes his way to Alaska – his journey ‘Into The Wild’.

This is based on a true story, and the movie comes across as real, as do the characters. You get engrossed with the development of the story, and also you want to know what happens with all the characters.

When does the movie take place?

Who are the main characters:

See IMDB Cast

What makes the Into The Wild interesting? For myself what makes this interesting, is that earlier in my life, I considered going walk about. I looked at Canada, I looked at the Grand Canyon, I looked at many areas to get away from it all. I think many of us during our lives encounter a time when we have had enough of ‘life’ and want to escape. For most of us, we shake it off, probably regret it at some time in the future, but we settled down for the mundane. This movie shows what can happen if you follow that dream.

The best part for me is when he discovers Alaska and finds his dream. He encounters many adversities during his time in Alaska, and at times evens has pangs for the’real’ world. However he stills ends up staying in Alaska.

The people who will love this movie are those who can dream, and can understand why others have dreams which are outside the norm for society.

On a scale of 1 (don’t like) – 5 (like), how do you rate this movie? I give this move a 5

HMRC achieves Big Brother Status

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HMRC is watchingI was reading an article by Paul Rigney entitled ‘The all seeing eye – an HMRC success story?”, in itself the story does show a success story, in that the HMRC (for a government department) has managed to combine three discreet function into a fully functioning catch all system that enables HMRC to:

  • analyse tax data
  • collate information from credit reference agencies to pinpoint individuals and behaviours that may indicate fraud etc
  • They can extrapolate who is a director of a number of companies, his/her family connections and the companies that a partner is a director of as well as family trusts.

Investigations which may have taken weeks or even months in the past, can now be carried out in a day or less.

The HMRC system is called ‘Connect’, and its use and application will continue to grow with the planned introduction of quarterly returns and other instruments now in the pipeline.

These tools also enable the HMRC to keep a beady eye on online traders using such sites as eBay or HMRC - recovered moneyAutorader, or even Amazon and evaluate whether the trading sales activity qualifies as “business activity” or not for purposes of taxable income.

So why am I writing about what seems to be a perfectly valid use of resources and government money (remember it is our money)?   Well over the last few years I have written about ‘Big Brother’ government, and its abuses.  The latest of which has come to light through a FOI (Freedom of Information) request by one of our national papers, which showed how local government has been misusing the legislation, put in place to cover terrorism, to monitor all weird and wonderful things like, dog pooing in parks, litter louts, parents registration for schools etc – all obvious targets for the terrorism surveillance.

Government has to govern, and indeed we all want to live secure lives free from attack and terror; but what we must not do is give up our right to a free society, one in which we are not observed through discreet surveillance, one in which we can be locked up for disagreeing with government or taking pictures of a demonstration and use of police as examples.  the list of abuse is wide, and we as the voting population need to ensure that our freedoms are just that, our freedoms.  Ensure that you vote properly when you next have an election, it is your and your family’s future.

Community – Parris says there isn’t a LGBT one!

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Interesting comments, however Mr Parris has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth, and I believe he has yet again!  It is fairly obvious to anyone with half a brain that ‘community’ is always made up of bodies with similar interests, and therefore you could using Mr Parris’s analogy say there is not such thing as community in the wider sense if applied to the population in the United Kingdom.  The LGBT community is formed from liked minded individuals, and groups, who feel that they are being victimised or oppressed.  To achieve the rights that we currently have we have had to fight both in court, at the ballot box and sometimes even in the streets.  Gay community hidden behind closet doorWhere was Mr Parris during this – hiding behind (sorry in) the closet.  He consistently has fought against LGBT rights, as can be seen by his various statements on gay marriage and how the church should oppose this.

 

Examples of that LGBT community which Mr Parris says doesn’t exist, and why we still need to fight for our rights:

Obviously I could continue to put up more links, but I believe the news and public opinion are enough of a reminder of why we need to continue to fight for civil rights for minorities, and not to allow small minded people to take a so called moral high ground, when in reality they don’t have one.

 

Former Tory MP Matthew Parris has said that the LGBT community does not exist.

Source: Gay former Tory MP: ‘There’s no such thing as the LGBT community’

Paul Dacre Does the Two Step

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Dacre resigns from IPSO

Paul Dacre does the two step

I well understand Paul Dacre’s reservations on government interference, however, he must also understand that if the news media had been accurate and honest with its articles, and also not used what can only be termed underhand tactics (if not downright corrupt and criminal on occasions) then the government in all probability would not interfere.  But having said that, I would voice a note of caution, in that successive governments since the end of the second world war have been attempting to control both the media, and now because of the internet, the internet and peoples freedoms and access to information.  More importantly, the government has now passed an Act which basically gives them carte blanche to monitor and intercept any forms of communication they want in relation to any individual in the United Kingdom.  Big Brother strikes again!

Daily Mail editor-in-chief takes swipe at ‘so-called liberals’ who have refused to join Ipso as he announces departure

Source: Paul Dacre to step down as chair of journalists’ code of practice committee

Surveillance without request on Tubes

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surveillance on the tubes tube surveillance

Obviously we would all like the transport systems to work more efficiently, be safer, cleaner and cheaper, however if TfL required this information on passenger travel, why was it necessary to be secretive about it, and initiate a surveillance by stealth of its passengers?

This is just another example of an organisation following the government’s lead with regard to our privacy and rights, and riding roughshod over them.

Explaining that all data will be anonymous is not good enough, they should have said something long before their planned exploitation, and not withstanding their protestations, this will not be a one off, and I do not trust them to make the data anonymous if pressurised by government in the light of necessity to fight terrorism or some such other reason (that’s if they even bother to give a reason).  Dave McFarlane, Community Journalist

If you used the tube this morning, it’s highly likely that TfL used your Wi-Fi connection to find out information about your journey. The data collection initia

Source: TfL is tracking tube passengers through their phones

Cyber Secure – Are You Secure?

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no-hiding-place johnny-briggs nohidingplacetvtimes__

Security was just as much a problem  in the 50s and 60s and back in 1959 a Rediffusion television ‘No Hiding Place’ came into being and was immediately successful.  No Hiding Place was one of television’s most successful series, and a tremendous amount of hard work and research went into it.  Today we have numerous television programmes which cover every aspect of the police genre, but what does stand out it those that work, are those that are well researched, appear real and care for the both the characters and the story.

So why am I now writing about ‘No Hiding Place’ in relation to cyber security – well, in a convoluted way cyber crime now means we have ‘hiding place’ from those who wish to either control us to those who wish to steal from us.

I urgently ask that everyone read the following article, if you don’t understand it, then ask someone who does and who can explain it to you.  Look after your security, because the currently government int e UK isn’t and won’t

cyber security - keep it safe

Struggling white working-class pupils

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Education seems to have forgotten a proportion of its population – namely working class boys and girls! Whether we like to admit it or not, one size does not fit all when it comes to education, and boys are a completely different fit to girls, they need different stimuli and different provisions. This does not mean that we need segregated schools before certain elements of the population starts, but it does mean that we need to be inclusive of boys needs which we are not currently in the educational strata. Books need to cater for boys, not just girls. Boys also need more room to run about and get rid of energy, and also classes need to reflect this. It will be interesting to see if government, the educational establishment, and to a large degree teachers can make the changes needed.  We continue to talk about league tables, revamping education etc, but we seem to have difficulty in having a long term strategy, to allow it to develop with tinkering (government and inspectors) and to also allow teachers room and time to implement strategy without complaining even before it has had time for the ink to dry! Dave McFarlane, Community Journalist

Study finds poorer white children’s attainment has stayed stubbornly low despite improvements among other groups

Source: Schools must focus on struggling white working-class pupils, says UK charity

International Men’s Day – 19th November 2016

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International Men's Day

Men and Boys

It is international men’s day on November 19th, and I know there are a number of you who say why! Well the statistics do speak for themselves, but I quote from The History Learning site

…’Boys are getting better in the education system as time goes on; yet they are progressing at a much slower rate than girls. Working Class boys do particularly bad in the education system and this is situation is becoming increasingly worse.  This could be because working class boys want to get out of school and dig into “Mans Work.” However, there has been a significant decline in manual labour jobs that require hardly any or no formal grades as machines have replaced the jobs normally associated with men. This has led to a worrying unemployment rate for the unskilled in developed nations.’…

International Men's Day

men and boys are getting lost

The BCMJ in 2011 said ‘Suicide in men has been described as a “silent epidemic”: epidemic because of its high incidence and substantial contribution to men’s mortality, and silent be­cause of a lack of public awareness, a paucity of explanatory research, and the reluctance of men to seek help for suicide-related concerns. A statistical overview demonstrates a shockingly high rate of death by suicide for men compared with women, and a need to focus attention on prevention, screening, treatment, and service delivery.

Stop Male Suicide

Objectives of International Men’s Day include a focus on men’s and boy’s health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models. It is an occasion for men to celebrate their achievements and contributions, in particular their contributions to community, family, marriage, and child care while highlighting the discrimination against them.

The theme for 2016 is Stop Male Suicide. In every country bar China where it is approximately equal the suicide rate is worse for men than women and averaged out on a country by country basis the rate of suicide for men is up to three timesthat of women. In Russia it is 6 men for every 1 women. Men’s health is worse than women’s in every part of the world. Recent World Health Organization (WHO) data shows that, globally, male life expectancy at birth in 2015 was 69 years; for females, it was 74 years. Children suffer when they lose a father or a grandfather prematurely. So let’s work together to turn the tide of male ill-health & suicide.

The deplorable state of men’s health internationally is obviously a contributing factor to the epidemic of Male Suicide across the world. This year Glen Poole the IMD coordinator for the UK has written a book called “Stop Male Suicide.” His solution can be summed up in the words LEARN +LOVE+LISTEN. Let’s use that as the motto for this year’s International Mens Day and lets all help stop male suicide. If we each applied this saying every day the world would become a better place.

The November IMD is a significant date as it interfaces the popular ‘Movember‘ charity event and also with Universal Children’s Day on Nov 20 with which IMD forms a 48 hour celebration of men and children respectively, and of the special relationships they share.

imd-web-poster-wrestle-v2bThe ability to sacrifice your needs on behalf of others is fundamental to manhood, as is honour. Manhood rites of passage the world over recognise the importance of sacrifice in the development of Manhood.

Men make sacrifices everyday in their place of work, in their role as husbands and fathers, for their families, for their friends, for their communities and for their nation. International Men’s Day is an opportunity for people everywhere of goodwill to appreciate and celebrate the men in their lives and the contribution they make to society for the greater good of all.

Methods of commemorating International Men’s Day have included public seminars, conferences, festivals and fundraisers, classroom activities at schools, radio and television programs, Church observances, and peaceful displays and marches. The manner of observing this annual day is optional; any organizations are welcome to host their own events and any appropriate forums can be used.

IMD_2013

International Men’s Day is celebrated in over 60 countries of the world. Too many to list. Join us on November 19 in celebrating the contribution men and boys make to those around them, to their family and friends, their work place and the community, the nations and the world.